The Complete Jean Vigo (À propos de Nice / Taris / Zéro de conduite / L'Atalante) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

As the written library of cinema history and criticism has exploded over the last decades, only a small amount of it has been devoted to the work of the young French master, Jean Vigo. Perhaps not surprising, as his entire surviving work only amounts to something less than three hours of film: a silent short, A Propos de Nice, visibly influenced by the Surrealist movement; Taris, a commercial short with sound about the champion swimmer Jean Taris; and his landmark works, the anarchic forty-five minute Zero de Conduite, about a schoolboy revolt; and the lyrical feature-length L’Atalante, about a newlywed couple living on an old barge. They were all of them made with tape and staples and in an almighty rush; the continuity shows the gaps imposed by limited time and budget, rather like novels from which whole chapters have fallen out; the rough quality of the early sound equipment makes them impossible to watch without subtitles. A Propos de Nice is a first-timer’s attempt, ingenious as it is; Taris is basically a homework assignment, whipped out with a sense of humor. But Zero de Conduite and L’Atalante are two of the memorable and indelibly personal works of early cinema; they have retained their delights when other films made far more recently begin to require a bit of patience. Vigo’s background was unusual, which clung to him just as stubbornly as he embraced it. His father was an intended revolutionary who took the name Almereyda, an anagram of “y a de la merde”—“there is shit.” (His father made a bomb, intended for a judge who’d put him in jail, and then published an article about his intent; the bomb was left in a pissoir, where it failed to explode. They were strange times.) The father was eventually strangled in jail with shoelaces he’d bought for his son’s shoes, and the taint of Almereyda’s reputation followed the son throughout his life. Young Vigo was farmed out to godparents and sent away to school under an assumed name, and this strange amalgam of experiences lies not far below the surface of Zero de Conduite. The scent of anarchism and impudence pervades the movie; so does a visible eagerness to try out what the medium had to offer, with its bits of animation, its slow-motion sequences and its one sympathetic teacher, who mimics Chaplin. But when one of the students turns on an officious teacher and says “Monsieur le professeur, je vous dis merde”—one of the most famous lines of early French cinema—the memory of Vigo’s father acted as an irritant. The film got booted around—some enthusiasm, some dismay—and was shortly after banned. By luck, the rich amateur producer Jacques-Louis Nounez, who had financed Zero, stuck by Vigo and steered him to a script he’d received, about a young married couple and their trials living aboard a river barge. The script creaked badly, and seeing what Vigo made of it is one of the pleasures of reading about L’Atalante. Here too we are reminded how wise (or fortunate) Vigo was in his two major collaborators: the adventurous and ingenious cinematographer Boris Kaufman, who shot all of Vigo’s films and who went on to shoot On the Waterfront, Lumet’s film of Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Pawnbroker, and who worked well into the sixties; and Maurice Jaubert, who scored both Zero and L’Atalante and several of the other classic French films of the thirties. And in L’Atalante Vigo had the actor Michel Simon on hand to create one of the great characters of the early screen, the muttering old crazy bargeman, Pere Jules. From the utterly conventional scenario Vigo created one of the lovely lyric stories of the cinema, as the newly married couple are carried by the river past their misunderstandings and separations to reconciliation. After a faltering run, the movie was re-edited and retitled to cash in on a treacly popular song, “Le Chaland Qui Passe,” in which bastardized form it limped into and out of the theatres. A few days after its run ended, Vigo, who had been tubercular for years, died; he was 29. His critical acclaim was entirely posthumous. One of the pleasures of Vigo’s work, with L’Atalante particularly, is the pleasure of seeing the French landscape of the thirties, just as we might experience it with Boudu Saved from Drowning and much of the early Jean Renoir, and the photographs of Atget and Cartier-Bresson and Doisneau. Some of these images remain as evocative as any yet created in the cinema, and a lasting defense of the abilities and possibilities of black and white. Of the few books on Vigo, one remains indispensable: P.E. Salles-Gomes’s Jean Vigo, published in French by Editions du Seuil in 1957, and in English by University of California Press in 1971. It’s thorough, observant and intelligent throughout: a classic itself. All of Vigo’s work can be found online, but it’s worth buying the Criterion collection The Complete Jean Vigo, which is not terribly expensive and has some decent extras as well as the best restoration of image and sound.

Exactly as described!

I first saw these films on a VHS transfer from un-restored reels. Even so, I loved these little gems. I did something i rarely do, I bought a copy for myself. I couldn't be happier. The prints look clean, almost new. L'Atalante has been restored to its original version. A second disk and booklet provide critical perspective and a wealth of information on the makings of the films and the subsequent reception of the films. Vigo was way ahead of his time and so, of course his films were met with condemnation and scorn. When they were later discovered by a new generation in the 1950's they became the main inspiration for a new esthetic as realized by the Auteurs of the French New Wave. Vigo's films are celebrations of freedom, the sensual and noble grace of the human body, irrepressibly romantic; witty, satirical and playful; yet firmly grounded in real life. Anyone who truly loves film should see these wonderful films, and you can't go wrong with this collection.

It is truly amazing what Criterion has done with the main course of this blu ray release which has been massacred by censors and clueless distributors so many times from the very beginning of its release. I'm talking of course about "L'Atalante" which is the jewel in the crown here and is sadly the last work of its director Vigo before his early death from consumption. When I watched this blu ray release I had the impression I was back in time watching in the old movie theatres where you would get a cartoon or two, a newsreel or two and then the main course. Here we get the 23 minute silent "documentary" of Nice in " Propos De Nice" to start us off followed by another 9 minute documentary about a top French swimmer in "Taris" and then a comedy of sorts which in the day was actually considered scandalous by the French public in the 44 minute "Zero de Conduite" which showed to me the quaint sense of humour of Vigo especially with the midget school principal; the scene where he struggles to put his hat on the ledge where a mirror is strategically placed to give the optical illusion that he was much taller is priceless! Without any words Vigo tells us exactly the character of the principal and how he sees himself as being more substantial/important than he really is or at least is perceived by everybody else. While so far we have fairly entertaining fare for me at least "L'Atalante" is the masterpiece here. I have watched it 3 times already and I can't wait to watch it again which to me spells classic film in any language. I find myself surprised at the way this otherwise very simple story of newly weds embarking both figuratively and literally on their journey of marriage and some of the usual problems that such couples encounter albeit compressed in 87 minutes what in real life takes months or even years is told by Vigo. His at least to me strange choice of camera angles and framing of shots gave me the distinct impression that he was purposely trying to surprise me at every turn. It was as if Vigo knew what I was expecting to see and so he deliberately did things differently just to spite me; the result was not anger on my part but pleasant surprise that makes me want to watch this over and over again just to make sure that I actually saw what I thought I saw. I can count on one hand how many films make me want to watch them over and over again and now I can count "L'Atalante" among these. As mentioned at the start, this film was subject to many indignities being so far ahead of its time that this restored version in blu ray appears to be the best that can currently be done unless someone miraculously discovers a better master print somewhere. Imperfections abound but not at least for me to be too distracting and I have seen a lot worse such as the very poor treatment by Kino of "Les Vampires" for example and so while the picture quality isn't perfect it isn't that bad either. The sound quality is also quite good and as is usually the case with the magnificent Criterion the special features are indeed special with great documentaries and interviews about the film. This is the first time I've seen Michel Simon and his performance as Pere Jules must rank among the greatest acting of all time and for me ranks as highly as Walter Huston's in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"; it is that good. It is his character that becomes the unlikely hero throughout the film that suggests whether they like it or not the youth still depend upon the experience of their elders to get them through. This is a highly enjoyable film that deserves to be in any film buff's video library and although not perfect is still a very worthy Criterion blu ray release. Highly recommended!

El blu-ray muestra una vez más el cuidado y la calidad de los productos de Criterion Collection, con excelente extras y un booklet con información valiosa para los amantes del cine, además la oportunidad de tener la filmografía completa de uno de los cineastas más influyentes de la historia del cine, sobre todo fránces, es un lujo. Recomendable, a pesar de no tener subtítulos en español

All four films in this package are outstanding; however, the flagship, "Atalanta", should be part of every cineast's collection. This latest version was meticulously and lovingly mastered. This collection tells us clearly how creative Jean Vigo was. His most lamentable death at such an early age was a great loss for the world of films.

Excelente

OK

Desafortunadamente no puedo hablar el idioma tan bien que puedo escribir cualquier comentario. Es cierto, Google Translate, pero será demasiado laborioso.